I guess this has been a little while coming. I got my disc several weeks a go, got the tire and cassette put on it ansd took it for a spin. I intended to post this earlier, but I got lazy. Who cares.
I guess I’ll start from the beginning, as some of you may re-call frank had predicted a five-to-seven week wait a while back. I got mine in four. It comes in a very sturdy box, and the packaging seems fine.
First visual things you notice. Lot’s of chrome. This wheel practically glows. It’s light. I don’t have a gram scale, but I can pretty much guarantee it’s lighter than what ever you are training on now.
The decals are just fine. It’ll be a shame though when I replace them (the chrome just really doesn’t match my ride.) The composite is sweet. It’s lightly dimpled so it really has a 3-D look to it. (Not the flat, plain look you get with a Corima or a HED.) Visually I’d say this is the best sidewall in the industry. The Hub. It’s cool. Sounds nice, really smooth, and it matches the rim.
The actual ride. I decided to test it at a local tme trial. We started riding from the shop (it’s about a ten mile spin to the course.) The weather was looking iffy. Before we hit the one mile mark it started to pour rain. (I’d say it was raining cats and dogs, but I think they would have drowned before they hit the ground.) There was also lightning. Frank, the goodnews is your wheel doesn’t seem to conduct electricity. We finally get to the course and the rain died down. To say the least, I was soaked. My helmet had standing water in it. My shoes would squirt water when I pedaled, I wrang my jersey out three times and it still had water in it. The disc though, just fine. there was a little standing water (as in a few drops) on the surface of the disc, but the nomex stayed dry, and everything kept working. No extra weight to speak of.
for the actual time trial I have no way of knowing how much faster it made me. if I had to put a number on it I’d say it was good for 1 m.ph. at the very least. The handling was fine, the tubular ran fine on the wet, slick road, and I had no problems with crossinds. Sometime soon I’m going to do another ride with it in fair weather and see how I do.
Props to Frank. Great wheel. Visually (my main criteria) this is one top-notch wheel. Given a choice between this, or any other disc wheel, I’d still ride this one (with a slight exception for a Zipp, but only if it was the same price and came with a free tire.)
To anyone looking for a great rear wheel who isn’t afraid of a little extra free speed, I highley recommed getting a Renn disc. Thanks again Frank, and if you ever need any help testing your super fast front wheels let me know.
Hey Gopha, you say your hub is really smooth and sounds nice, but how loud is it? Mine while coasting is insanely loud (good for getting people’s attention when I coast up behind them) and I seem to have developed a squeak after about 60-70 miles. I haven’t narrowed it down to the disc yet (still on recovery rest from GCT), but I noted the cassette was amazingly tight to install compared to a standard Ultegra hub.
BTW-I found a similar speed improvement in my rides, roughly 1-1.5mph on average over a 32H Open Pro. Handles nice, isn’t harsh over bumps, and mine was 1102g on the calibrated scale.
At slow speeds it is quite loud. (I luv it.) After I pass between 21-23 m.p.h. (depending on the wind) the only people that can here it are the ones I’m passing.
My cogs were extremely tight to install, too. Actually, I had to get an Ultegra set to put on and off several times before I could get my Dura Ace set to squeeze on. I did grease it well. It is a tight fit though!
The renn is the loudest disc I’ve ever owned or ridden when coasting. It requires earplugs. If you stop pedalling just for an instant everybodyw/in 100m will know your around. The graphics reflect sunlight so you get this awesome glow going in circles on theground as you ride. it’s mesmerizing.
Great wheel it is.
I seem to have developed a squeak after about 60-70 miles
Grease the freehub body before sliding the cassette on. I had the same problem, and repeatedly removing/greasing/reinstalling the cassette finally got rid of the problem. It took 4-5 times, but it’s worth it as the squealing was just maddening.
I couldn’t even install the DA 10sp initially, so I greased the freehub body and I finally managed to get it on there by hand (no hammers allowed). I had suspected this as the source of the squeak, and tightened the lockring just in case that was the problem. Since that didn’t help my next task was to remove the cassette and check the freehub for size. Sounds like I should have done this a while back, before I took apart every other part on my bike (derailleur pulleys, BB/crank, chainring bolts, etc.) ARGH!
Otherwise the disc rocks…and looks bada$$ on my BP Stealth frame. Great for frightening small children and intimidating other cyclists on my local routes!
the new carriers are tight. the first 500 aluminum carriers were fine. the cassettes slid very easily. so easy that the single cogs would climb a bit under load and leave nasty pressure marks on the carrier. we decided to tighten the spec. to prevent this. we did this not knowing all shimano cassettes are not created equal. if you’ll notice some slid right on some are very tight even within one cassette cluster. the multi gears with aluminum are the main problem. the aluminum is cast not machined and this gives a wide tolerance. we check every one that leaves but it seems the “tester” carrier we use is not as tight as some others. what we do is go over the carrier with a scotch-brite pad (not sand paper). then we grease the carrier and cassette. i’m very sorry this happened. we have to work with this 500 before we go back to the old spec. not good.
as far as the squeak. we have had about four people report this (sound like there are more but unreported). we have not been able to reproduce the squeak here yet. when we do we will develop a fix and prevention and pass this along of course.
if you’ll notice some slid right on some are very tight even within one cassette cluster. the multi gears with aluminum are the main problem. the aluminum is cast not machined and this gives a wide tolerance.
frank, renn multisport
Yes, I noted that the first one slid on smoothly but the second was nearly impossible. That’s when I pulled out the grease and put a nice thin coating on everything. It seems as though about half of the cassettes are extremely tight, so tight I am worried about being able to remove them! I am guessing the squeak might be related to the cassette but here are the symptoms:
The squeak does not show up cold, it’s only after about 5-10 miles, although the first time it showed up was at about mile 25. If I pedal consistently (90-105rpm) the squeak is constant, and seems to not be specific to any spot on the pedal stroke, although it is more consistently there on the downstroke of either pedal. If I coast or backpedal for as little as 2 or 3 clicks the squeak disappears for 10-15 seconds and then comes back. This makes me think that it could also be in the pawls. Either way it is absolutely aggravating and is definitely a metal-on-metal screech.
I have no races in the near future, so I don’t absolutely need the disc. I plan to pull off the cassette and check the tolerances on the cogs to see if they are off. It may be that there are some rough spots or poor machining tolerances on the inside diameter of the cassette. If you want to inspect my disc to see if you can figure out the squeak I still have the original packaging and don’t need it for a few weeks. PM me if you are interested!
I experienced the squeak as well this past weekend at the Disney Half Ironman.(my longest ride to date with the disk) It seemed to develop after 25-30 miles and the instant I would stop pedaling it ceased. Would start cranking again and the squeek would re-occur in a few minutes.
I’m very interested in anything you can find in terms of fix/preventative measures and am willing to have you inspect my disk if you need another example. All in all, though a great wheel and I was definitely faster than expected.
the squeak seems to be coming from the lack of lube between the pawls and the cassette carrier. this is the only thing that makes sence given the symptoms. we have a few other test to run. if this turns out to be the problem we will post the fix on the web site.
got mine, a clincher, a few weeks ago. it came in after only a couple of weeks…much faster than I thought it would. built it up last week and have ridden it twice…once about 15 miles for a “test” run and once in a practice 20k tt (plus about 10 miles for warm-up/cool-down) for a total of about 37 - 38 miles. mine kept making some kind of noise every revolution that I couldn’t identify while riding. when I inspected it while standing still, it was tire rub on the brake pad. foolish me.
no squeaking yet, but glad to hear others have had trouble getting their cassettes on. whew! I thought it was just my bad luck to have the only one.
My first full on race ride was a week and a half ago. Coming up on another rider he actually looked up at the sky as I got closer. Curious as to what he was looking at/for I too looked up. As I pulled beside him we must have been a sight…both staring blankly at the empty sky…and he suddenly turned to me and said…holy crap, I thought there was a jet flying overhead or something…it’s just your disc. Put a smile on my face for sure. Man that hub is smooth. Had only moderate difficulty getting my DA cassette on…but it was a bit snug. I’d rather have it fit snugly on than have it slopping around loosely. Since I got a ‘second’ I don’t have any decals. Not sure if I want to get some (they sound cool) or keep the stealthy look. Either way people are insane for paying so much more for a designer label on their disc. I’ve never run a Zipp dimple on my bike but I’d wager the difference in the speed benefit at the speeds I run would be too small to measure. In the latest Tinley talks he says something about giving credit where it is due before a person passes on and it sounds more like a eulogy than genuine praise…and I agree. So in keeping with the thought I want to give credit to Frank for creating such an awesome wheel, taking some of his valuable time to post on this forum, and just being a genuinely nice person to talk to. Some might just chalk it up to doing business but there are far too many people in ‘the business’ that care only about the bottom line. I have yet to be shown that this is the case with Frank. Hats off (or…being Canadian…toques off) to you Frank…keep up the good work.
Maybe you are behind in catching up with your emails.
On May 25th, I emailed you regarding the Renn 575 700C Clincher with Campy Hub.
Frank,
I purchased one of these from Bicyclesports in Tyler, TX back in early March and I’ve emailed you in the past. I’m still waiting to receive this disc after more than 11 weeks now. Any light at the end of the tunnel yet?
Call me: “trying to be patient”.
Thanks for any info.
What did I do wrong? What should I have done? Four weeks for Ze Gopha sounds like a dream come true. Or did he just order a few weeks ago and avoided the earlier long delay. Last in, first out order fulfillment?